


Real People Never Act Like Phoenixes

by venefica_aura (crankyoldman)



Series: Psychobabble [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-28
Updated: 2009-11-28
Packaged: 2017-10-03 21:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankyoldman/pseuds/venefica_aura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because someone could look sharp in a suit didn't mean they knew how to dress themselves. Or how Tally proved that Veld was not born at forty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Real People Never Act Like Phoenixes

**Author's Note:**

> Mainly wanted to write this to offset the _very depressing_ plotlines I've had in my head lately. This is mostly because I adore Turk Mommy Tally ever so much. Especially when she's hanging out with the favorite. It gives me warm fuzzies. I also get to talk about The Tattoo.

Tally had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing too hard. She'd told him to go out and get something that would make him look like a normal kid his age, as they were both having to play it a little quiet for this mission. What she hadn't realized was that Veld had no earthly clue was a normal kid his age looked like.

"Veld... what _are_ you wearing?"

"Clothes? I just grabbed the first things I could find. What?"

"Are you aware that you look like a cactuar that's been run over by a very large vehicle?"

"Huh?"

She lost in then, with the confused expression on his face and the _utterly ridiculous_ jacket he had picked out. The kid was nineteen for Alexander's sake. He should have been able to realize that only makotic crackheads would walk out in public with something with that many spikes on it. And that _green_.

Tally had figured Veld was immune to the whole issue that most boys his age had. He seemed rather comfortable in his uniform and when he was off work he often wore a dress shirt and slacks in a manner that would make his mother proud if she were still around.

Maybe he'd been in a uniform a little too much of his life.

"You know what, I should just go with you to pick up some things."

Kid almost looked relieved.

\---

"First off, most normal kids don't wear those overly baggy jeans you picked out before. And don't ever listen to salespeople, I think that's how you ended up with that bad jacket."

Veld had changed back into his business casual wear, as Tally didn't want him to be completely mortified while they were finding something suitable for him to blend in. Though he did seem a little embarrassed anyway, not meeting her eyes or talking much.

"And a tee-shirt wouldn't kill you."

"Ah... I don't like wearing those."

She put her hands on her hips. "Why not?"

"I have something that will give me away on my arm."

She had to blink at that. A scar? Most of them had those, he had a particularly hideous one on his right side that his official report said was a result of the war, but even she had to wonder. He was sometimes open with her, but only to a point.

"Roll up your sleeve."

Veld pretty much always did as she asked. She had to add 'pretty much' because he'd disobeyed an order nearly two months back, because he had found _her_ actions, as he put it in that almost anachronistic tone of his, "too reckless".

"When... did you get that?"

Moreover, how on earth did he manage to not have it recorded in his official medical records and reports. Sneaky punk. It figured that if he were to get something as permanent as a tattoo it would have to be _beautiful_. Which it was. It was things like that which were making her start to suspect he might be just a little bit gay. Not that she prescribed to stereotypes or anything.

"The year I turned seventeen."

"Must have cost you a fortune." She pulled her eyes away from it to start looking at the long-sleeved shirts. He was right not to wear short sleeves, such a tattoo would certainly make him easily identifiable.

"It was free."

Tally looked at him like he was crazy. He shrugged.

"The artist liked me or something."

She rolled her eyes. One day she would sit him down and explain to him that being serious and considerate was an aphrodisiac to a generation of women that grew up with rude and abusive men. Tally'd had to shoo off enough secretarial ninnies and gum chewing Plate girls inquiring about his whereabouts to know.

"So why a phoenix?" She dropped a pile of clothes in his hands. No sense having to go through this again for a while, and he appeared to have stopped growing. Not tall but not exactly short--Alexander forbid if he started working with someone tall. She imagined he'd probably start posturing about that kind of thing.

He seemed kind of lost with all the clothing, and didn't respond immediately.

"Well?"

"Rebirth or something... I'd gotten dared into a lot of whiskey at the time."

Alcohol tolerance of a twelve year old. Tally no longer allowed Casio to take him out drinking. Especially after he puked on her office floor. Disgusting.

"Pretty good choice while intoxicated."

"Like I said, the artist liked me or something. I told her it was my birthday, I think, she asked if I wanted any piercings and I showed her the cut on my side, stopped asking about a piercing and she drew that."

What tattoo artist _wouldn't_ like someone with the kind of pain tolerance Veld displayed. It was almost obscene.

"Well, if you're ever off duty and with friends or something, you might want to show that off. Most people that get drunk and get tattooed end up with someone's name on their ass."

He smirked a little at that. "So whose name is on yours?"

"No one's. Now go try the jeans on, make sure they fit."

"Yes'm."

Tally would never got someone's name tattooed on her ass. Now her old Midgar PD number on the small of her back? That was a different story.

\---

She never told him, but that mission reminded her of her life expectancy. And not because they got shot at or caught or injured. Not because someone had said anything.

Mainly it was because when Veld was dressed like a normal kid his age, he actually looked like a normal kid his age. The suits tended to amplify his unnatural need to be older, almost to the point she thought he was. But he was only a kid and she was old enough to be his mother.

And considering she had to spend most of an afternoon helping him buy clothes, she didn't particularly feel too far off from that either. Tally really shouldn't have played favorites, but she supposed it was the inevitable problem of a career woman that never married and never had kids of her own.

That is, some deity would have the sense of humor to send her one.

"So you can act your age. I'm shocked."

"Don't get used to it."

"Oh I won't."

She still thought of him in jeans and long-sleeved tee-shirt when he was acting too serious or anal. Tally liked to think she would have made a good parent, then. Sure, he was completely mess up in the head and likely to do a couple irreparable stupid things, but she had gotten him to dress his age.

It was enough.


End file.
